It was on the first day, the opening of the 2010 Fifa World Cup when I heard a voice behind me say “sorry, I need your help”. I turned around and saw a short, old man with cameras and lenses strapped to his body. They looked heavy on him. He was wearing a balaclava, rolled […]
Media
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Student radio not what it used to be
In many parts of the world student radio stations are bastions of progressivism and staffed by active, engaged students who lead discussions against injustice and stand up for persecuted and vulnerable groups and communities. In the US, where I spent several years teaching at university, radio stations typically get involved in progressive causes: LGBT issues, […]
Posted inGeneral, Lifestyle, Media
An incorrigible perversion
This is a story about breast cancer. It is not about a woman who has succumbed to it, nor about a woman who has triumphed over it. It is instead a story about a cold-hearted business decision to make and market a “natural product” which it is claimed contains “nutrients and plant extracts that help […]
Posted inMedia
No ghastly Women’s Day sermonising
Women’s Day is upon us, which means we can expect four five things: * Meaningless speeches by politicians (presumably our president knows about the importance of women; he’s consorted with enough of them). * Ghastly twee sermonising about the Importance of Women. * Women’s Day ad campaigns for ugly furniture. * Debates about whether Women’s […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Standard Bank, you can stick your dishwasher where the sun don’t shine
Ek kan nie. Get a dishwasher for mom, while dad sits on his post-feminist patriarchal derriere and watches his new home theatre system? Nee. Ndixolele. Jammer, maar nee. I don’t think I need to go into what is wrong with this advert. If you don’t know by now, you will never ever ever know (apologies […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, Tech
Imagining web 3.0
This is an extract of a keynote presentation I gave at the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre on Thursday, June 21 2012. The advanced development of the internet and the cornucopia of information it provides has only been in existence for just over 18 years. The internet at its current growth rate and development stands to be […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Pantomime of the parvenu
South Africa is a particularly fractious society. Rarely does a week pass without something stirring the country’s intellectuals from their silences. The noise generated by this fractiousness says more, perhaps, about South Africa’s collective neurosis, than it does about anything else. What is amusing to behold, though, is the theatrics of intellectuals that play out […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
The Spear: SA will not overcome fear by giving into it
Brett Murray’s defaced The Spear stands as a monument to intolerance. After thousands of ANC supporters marched to the Goodman Gallery where it had once been on display, the gallery has agreed it will not be displayed publicly again. While representations of the painting now enjoy the ubiquity of the web, what price have we […]
Posted inGeneral, Media, News/Politics
Some sympathy for the editor, please
I too dislike the painting. It offends me for reasons I can’t quite fathom. I do know as satire it resembles the blow of a club more than the rapier thrust. Yet I am appalled by the Taliban-like reaction to it. Brett Murray must have an inkling of how Salman Rushdie felt. The spotlight, however, […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
The ANC’s bullying will fail to quash freedom
There has been much gnashing of teeth at the decision made by the editor of City Press, Ferial Haffajee, to remove a photo of Bretty Murray’s The Spear from the newspaper’s website. When it comes to the media, the ANC has brought all its indignant rage down on one publication – it has been useful […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, News/Politics, Tech
The promise of technology in South Africa
The pace of change and technological evolution has accelerated greatly over the last decade. It’s not only remarkable how dramatically the technologies in everyday use has changed, but also how easily society as a whole has adopted these innovations. The adoption of these technologies has been unequivocally positive – for individuals, the business environment and […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
How do we galvanise outrage over Mdluli?
What do the racist tweets, e-tolls, the POIB and rhino poaching have in common? Recently they have all been the focus of public outrage. Outrage is a useful thing. It was outrage that saw Jessica Leandra stripped of her endorsements and title, outrage that put a temporary halt to e-tolls, and outrage that has forced […]